Diamond
by P.A.R
Summary: Snape goes shopping for a very special Christmas gift.


A/N: O.K., folks. Hope you aren't to upset, but I'm posting this early. I know. I know. I usually post between 6:00PM and 10:00PM, EST. But getting on the server at those hours has been getting harder and harder as the holidays approach. So I thought I'd post this in the morning instead. Hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Enjoy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! 

DIAMOND

Snape sat at the head table staring out at the near empty Great Hall. Most of the students had left on the train that morning, headed home for the holidays. 

Snape should have been looking forward to several long, blissfully quiet days of solitude. But an unusual problem had presented itself to him that had all the makings of one very unpleasant holiday season if he couldn't solve it in time. He was still puzzling over the issue when Remus Lupin suddenly dropped into the chair next to him.

"Evening, Severus." Lupin stated with his usual cheerful smile.

Snape gave the man his best condescending look, then turned back to the hall before him. What potion did this man take that rendered him perpetually happy? A mood that did not fit well next to Snape's that evening.

"We're in another fine mood this evening, Severus." Lupin commented. "I'd have thought you'd be just a little happy."

"And why is that?"

"The students are gone, Severus. You have all that wonderful quiet in your dungeons to just wrap yourself in. You're usually positively gleeful by this point. So what's up?"

"Who says I'm not?"

"That look on your face for one."

"You mean the one that appeared the minute you sat yourself in that chair?"

"Be as unpleasant as you'd like, Severus. We both know in the end you'll still tell me what's on your mind. Why not just get it over with?"

Snape sighed to himself. Honestly, Lupin could be the most irritating object in the whole castle sometimes. 

Snape thought for a moment. Perhaps it wouldn't do any harm to tell Lupin. And maybe he could help.

"If you must know," Snape stated in a low whisper, "I'm trying to think of a present for a friend."

"A present? For a friend?" Lupin's eyes positively lit up at the suggestion. He suddenly stared off into space. "Oh, this'll be easy, Severus. Let me think......what do I need......"

"It's not for you, you overgrown furball!" Snape hissed. "It's for....Analisa."

Lupin's smile not only didn't diminish at the news, it grew wider. "Ohhhhhh," he commented as he grinned at Snape, "it's for your girlfriend."

Snape nearly came out of his chair as he stared down at the man next to him. "She is not my girlfriend." He stated dangerously. "She's...a colleague."

"Have you discussed that with her by any chance? Or," Lupin put in suddenly as he held up a finger, cutting off Snape's reply, "is that what you two were doing in the third floor corridor last night? I mean, the lips were definitely moving there, Severus, but for the life of me, I don't recall hearing a lot of talking going on. A bit of heavy breathing, the occasional giggle. But nothing coherent."

"You were spying on us?" Snape nearly came out of his chair again. But Lupin defended himself with his characteristic bemused smile.

"Spying? Hardly a need for that, Severus. Oh, no. I was just passing by. Much as I suspect those three Ravenclaw girls were doing ahead of me. I was merely curious to see what had them suddenly dissolve into giggles and hurry off down the corridor."

Snape went a bit pale. "Students?"

"Not surprising you didn't see them, Severus. I think I could have lit a case of fireworks in that hallway and you two wouldn't have even smelled the smoke. When did you come up for air, anyway?"

Snape had buried his face in his hands. "Ravenclaws? They're the worst gossips of the school."

"No, they're not." Lupin offered helpfully.

Snape looked up.

"That Hufflepuff girl that went by ahead of the Ravenclaws is much worse. Never tell that girl anything you wouldn't publish in the Daily Prophet."

Snape buried his face back in his hands.

Lupin patted his back comfortingly. "Look, Severus. Lets take your mind off of it, all right? Do you have any ideas of what to get your 'friend'?"

Snape sat back up, pulling his dignity back around him like a cloak. "Well," he stated, "I thought I might buy her a piece of jewelry. Something with diamonds."

Lupin's mouth fell open. "You're buying your friend diamonds?"

"Something wrong with that?"

Lupin looked hopeful. "Can I be your friend, Severus?"

"No! Answer the question."

Lupin leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. "This is just a 'friendly' little gift exchange, right? Just a little package swapping between colleagues?"

Snape nodded.

Lupin laughed softly as he shook his head. "Well, then you can drop the diamond idea, Severus. You do not buy your 'friend' diamonds."

"Why not? Women like jewelry. It's a 'no-fail' present." Snape defended.

"Severus, diamonds are an 'I'd like to see you wearing just that' present."

Snape thought for a moment, then gave Lupin a deep frown. "I have no intention of suggesting......"

"Then you'd better think of something else. Unless, of course, you were thinking you'd like to see her in just......"

"No!" Snape stated firmly. Though Lupin thought the answer came with a subtle, if not subconscious amount of hesitancy.

"All right then. Let's think of something else."

"I don't remember asking for your advice."

"Twenty-one years ago. Fourth year. You wanted to date that Ravenclaw girl. Asked for my advice."

"That was twenty-one years ago!"

"Once you ask, I become your perpetual advice giver, Severus. Now, back to the problem at hand. Does Analisa even like jewelry? Can't recall ever seeing the woman wearing any."

"All women like jewelry, Lupin. It's a known fact."

Lupin studied the man in front of him for a moment.

"What?"

"Do you two ever 'talk'?" Lupin asked. "I mean actually converse, not just asked questions, like 'where's the nearest empty corridor'?"

Snape frowned at the comment. "Of course we talk. Analisa is a wonderful conversationalist."

"Good. Then in the course of these wonderful conversations you two have been having, has she ever mentioned, say.........a favorite color?"

"Blue." Snape answered with a triumphant smile.

"All right. What about getting her something blue? A scarf or a new robe?"

"She has a closet full."

"Hobbies?"

"Brewing potions."

"Get her a new cauldron?"

"She has five."

"New ones?"

"Three."

Lupin sighed quietly. "All right. Time to hit the old stand-bys."

"Stand-bys?"

"What you get somebody when you don't know what else to get them. Sirius was great at these. Every Christmas he must have had to buy for half a dozen girls. No, make that an even dozen. No. Baker's dozen. Usually had an extra tucked away somewhere we didn't know about."

"I have no need to hear about the exploits of the corridor-trolling Mr. Black."

"Well, like it or not, Severus, Sirius was good at what to get girls. Now let me think for a minute.....what were some of his better presents?" Lupin sat staring at the ceiling for several moments. "Soft and warm." He finally said.

Snape looked up. "What?"

"Soft and warm. Sirius said anything that fell into that category was a sure hit. Girls loved things that were soft and warm."

"For instance?"

"Well, what about a wrap? Or a muff? Or a nice warm pair of gloves? Things like that."

Snape frowned. "Are you honestly trying to help, or is this just entertainment for you, Lupin?"

"A little of both."

Snape got to his feet. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll go back to the diamonds idea."

Lupin shook his head. "I'm telling you, Severus. Go with 'soft and warm'. She'll love it."

Snape frowned as he turned and headed out of the hall. Soft and warm. What could he get Analisa that she would like that was 'soft and warm'? 

No. Diamonds were the way to go.

Three days later Snape found himself sitting in the lobby area of a very exclusive jewelry store in London, browsing over the latest selection of bracelets that had been set before him. Nothing on the tray was less than five carats in total weight.

Snape couldn't quite shake the feeling that everything he had looked at so far, which included necklaces, earrings, and brooches, somehow just didn't fit Analisa. She needed something special. Something unique.

Snape waved off the tray of bracelets, his mind drifting back to Lupin's suggestion, as it had several times that morning. 

"Perhaps you'd like to look at some rings, sir?" The overly solicitous store manager asked, giving Snape his best smile.

Snape was certainly dressed like a man who could afford to buy a smile of that type. He had found while dealing with muggles that dress was very important. Indeed, muggles often judged you solely on how you were dressed. And so Snape always made it a point to dress in a manner that demanded respect. The shirt was a charcoal color and the black suit he wore was tailor made to perfection. The black shoes he was wearing, even though he had been walking about London's streets the entire day, still maintained a shine that you could have seen your reflection in. The coat slung over the chair behind him was also clearly tailor made of a thick, black wool with a short, shoulder length cape about the shoulders.

Snape paused for a moment as he perused the store with his eyes, then shook his head.

No. What he was looking for wasn't going to be found here. 

Getting up, Snape picked up his coat and left the store without so much as a word to the disappointed manager.

The rest of the morning Snape spent in clothing shops, trying to find something that fit Lupin's description of 'soft and warm'. He had come very close to purchasing a pair of beautiful leather gloves with an inside lining of fur. But he had suddenly remembered how Analisa felt about animals. To think someone had killed an animal just to line the gloves with its fur absolutely guaranteed she would never wear them. He was almost certain that one of her decisions in joining Voldemort's Deatheaters was that they never performed any animal sacrifices.

By late afternoon Snape had actually caught himself almost walking into a perfume shop. It was getting late and a light snow had begun to fall, blanketing the layer that had fallen that morning and dropping the already freezing temperature, making him long that much more for his cozy hearth fire. But he had quickly detoured around the perfume store. 

No. That would be admitting defeat. That he had absolutely no idea what to get Analisa for Christmas.

Snape sighed to himself as he lowered his tired body onto a bench near a park. It was getting late and he would have to be getting back to Hogwarts soon. But he and Analisa had agreed to exchange gifts that night after supper. He had to get her something today.

Why had he waited so long? Why didn't he just let Lupin keep babbling until he suggested something appropriate. The man was good at things like this.

Snape glanced up at the clock hanging in front of a store across the street. 

Five o'clock. He barely had time to buy something and get back to the castle in time for supper.

Of course, he could miss supper and earn some extra time that way.

No. If he wasn't there for supper Analisa would know he had been still out shopping. She would be furious he had waited so long to buy her present.

'Go with the diamonds', a small voice in his head told him. 'Maybe, like the old werewolf said, she'd see it as an 'I'd like to see you in just that' present'.

A slow smile was creeping across Snape's lips as his mind followed the thought. But he was suddenly snapped back to reality by a small, frightened sound from the alleyway behind him. 

Snape wasn't even sure why he heard the sound at all. Cars were rushing by on the street as people hurried to get home. Commuters were getting off the trains and hurrying out of the subway tunnels nearby. All in all, the sounds were very distracting.

But above them all, Snape had heard the small cry down the alleyway.

Getting to his feet, he followed the sound, which came at varied intervals, but never seemed to move. As he got closer to it, it became easier to make it out. And against the white snow that covered the pavement of the alleyway, it was even easier to see.

Crouched in the snow, curled up about itself behind a discarded box, was a small, black kitten.

Snape stood staring at the small ball of fur, patches of white covering its paws. The thing didn't look more than a few days old at best. Maybe a few weeks, since it's eyes were open. Two large, green, terrified eyes that stared up at Snape.

The kitten backed up to the wall, trying its best to find an escape from the creature in front of it, while at the same time showing teeth, hissing, and trying to look aggressive. But all it seemed able to do was burrow itself deeper in the snow, shaking from fear and cold.

As Snape stood there for a minute, the kitten cried again. A small, pitiful wail barely carried above the wind blowing down the alleyway. That must have been what carried the sound to where Snape had been sitting.

Snape eyed the animal for a few more seconds. 

The kitten cried again.

"Don't look at me." Snape informed it pointedly. "I have troubles of my own."

But the kitten seemed to pay him little attention as it's head began to droop towards its frost-covered paws. A softer, less forceful wail escaped from it that trailed off into silence.

Snape had already turned and started towards the alleyway entrance. It was winter, and those that couldn't fend for themselves were bound to be casualties of the cold. That was a sad fact of life.

Reaching the front of the alleyway, Snape wrapped his coat tighter about himself as a rush of biting wind blew past him just as he stepped clear of the building. But the wind had caught him before he had a chance to pull the coat closed and the blast of the air worked its way inside his coat and wrapped itself about his body.

Snape stood for a moment, shaking from the feel of the air against his body. He couldn't remember feeling anything quite so cold before in his life. Thankfully he had charmed the shoes he was wearing to keep out the cold and the wet of the snow. He didn't even want to imagine what his feet would feel like by now after walking around in the snow for the past few hours.

Snape stared down at his comfortable, warm, protected feet for a moment, thinking about how cold, numb, and wet his feet would otherwise be. Suddenly he turned and headed them back down the alleyway.

Laying still in the snow where he had last seen it, the little kitten gave no show that it even knew he was there.

Snape carefully slid his hand under the small, black body and lifted it out from the snow. The kitten was so small it fit perfectly in the palm of his glove-covered hand.

Snape nudged the kitten with his finger. But the kitten didn't move.

Staring at it for a moment, Snape finally leaned down and gently slid the small body out of his hand back onto the snow. An expression few people ever saw from the potions master worked itself across his face as he watched the little ball of fur rest back over the snow covered ground.

But as he stood back up, Snape was amazed to see a tiny paw twitch and feebly reach over to brush the kitten's nose.

Snape reached down and scooped the kitten back up in his hand and immediately wrapped his other hand over it. The kitten shook slightly and gave a small cry.

Snape took deep, chilling breath, then blew out a lungful of warm air into his hands. The little body jumped slightly and the kitten gave another, slightly louder cry.

Snape repeated the process several times. Each time the cry grew a little louder until finally the kitten stopped crying and started to purr. 

Satisfied the kitten wasn't in any further danger of freezing, Snape tucked it under his coat as he headed for the street again.

Heading down the street, Snape quietly admonished himself over his soft nature for the little ball of fur.

'Great!' He thought. 'What am I going to do with a kitten?'

And he still didn't have a present for Analisa. 

Then Snape stopped abruptly.

Wait a minute! Kittens were soft...and warm....and BOX SIZE!

Snape pulled the little black kitten out of his coat and stared at it. A small smile crept across his lips.

That night, Analisa sat practically bouncing the sofa cushion as she watched Snape disappear into the back room to get her present. She had just presented him with a large, leather bound edition of obscure potions of the past hundred years. 

He had, of course, loved it.

Analisa's eyes lit up as Snape came back into the room holding a large, expertly wrapped gift box.

"Ohhhh, you got me a box!" She exclaimed affectionately.

"Very amusing." Snape replied as the smallest trace of a smile crossed his lips. 

"Well," Analisa stated as she looked over the package, "it's a large box. Is it something big then?"

Snape lifted the lid and stared down at the diminutive ball of black fur. Two large, shining green eyes, nearly as large, it seemed, as the kitten's whole body, stared back up at him.

Snape closed the lid and turned his attention back to Analisa.

"It....has potential." He replied.

Analisa held out her arms. "Ok, then." She practically squeaked. "Let me have it. I can't wait."

As Snape handed her the box, he found himself seized suddenly by a very nervous feeling as he stared at Analisa's expression, alive with anticipation as she quickly set the box on the coffee table in front of her and sat back down on the sofa to open it. What if she didn't like it? What if she was insulted because he hadn't 'bought' her a present? What if the kitten didn't like her?

But all of Snape's fears were abruptly swept away by a delighted squeal as Analisa took the lid off the box.

Two hands dove into the box and came out cupping the tiny ball of black fur.

Analisa squealed again with delight, her eyes positively dancing as she stared at the kitten.

"Severus!" She squealed once again. "I can't believe you thought of this! A kitten! I always wanted a kitten! This is wonderful! I can't believe you did this!"

Snape found himself the recipient of an exuberant embrace as Analisa gently placed the kitten on the sofa and flew into his arms.

"You are so sweet! I am so lucky to have you!"

Snape found himself being smothered in kisses as Analisa bestowed her appraisal of the present on him. But Analisa abruptly stopped and turned her attentions from Snape and back to the kitten, who had let out a tiny mew.

The kitten found itself scooped up again and cuddled up against its new owner's neck. 

"This is so sweet!" Analisa cried with pleasure as she bounced about the room, holding the kitten above her, which was now staring curiously down at her. "This is the best thing anyone has ever given me!"

But Analisa stopped abruptly in her dance and turned back to Snape.

"Oh!" She stated. "Severus, you didn't tell me yet. What's it's name?"

Snape stood stunned for a moment. Name? First he had to get the thing, get it cleaned up, get it fed, get it in the box, put a silencing charm on the box and make sure it got delivered safely........and now he had to name it?

Snape thought hard and fast as Analisa gave him a puzzled look when he didn't respond right away.

"Severus?"

Snape nearly admitted he hadn't thought of a name for the kitten when a sudden idea struck him.

He gave Analisa his most pleasant and charming smile.

"Diamond." He answered.


End file.
